Leon Edwards retained the belt with a unanimous points victory over Colby Covington at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, while Paddy Pimblett became the latest UFC fighter to beat fading force Tony Ferguson
Sunday 17 December 2023 08:58, UK
Leon Edwards retained the UFC welterweight title on Saturday night, beating American Colby Covington, as rising star Paddy Pimblett defeated octagon legend Tony Ferguson.
The atmosphere was charged at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas heading into the main event after a bust-up in the pre-match press conference between the two title contenders, after Covington made a controversial remark about Edwards' late father.
The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt (22-3), from Birmingham, showed poise and patience as he picked his spots to outclass Covington (17-4), beating the former interim champion to take a unanimous points victory.
Earlier on the main card, Pimblett (21-3) consigned former UFC title contender Ferguson (25-10) to his seventh consecutive defeat, as he proves to be a shadow of the fighter who was once touted as having the potential to beat the great Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Ferguson's UFC future must now be in question as Pimblett was quicker, more accurate and used his grappling skills to earn a unanimous decision in the lightweight bout.
Pimblett remains undefeated in the UFC and continues his rise up the lightweight rankings.
After the press conference controversy, the expectation going into the title fight was that Edwards would come out swinging and leave himself open to Covington's counter-attacking. The 32-year-old Brit was not baited however, and settled into the fight to avoid leaving himself open to a shock knockout.
Edwards used sharp kicks to repel his opponent and close down any opportunity Covington, who entered the arena draped in an American flag and stopped to speak to former President Donald Trump before stepping into the octagon, had to make an impact.
Rather than using his strengths on his feet as a striker, Edwards chose to grapple and counter whenever Covington took shots for a takedown - beating the California-born wrestler at his own game.
After the fight, an emotional Edwards opened up on the impact of Covington's comment about the Briton's late father in the build-up to the event.
"It took a lot for me to calm down," he said. "I spoke to my mum and my team and shut it all down.
"After the press conference, I was crying backstage because of the rage."
Victory means that Edwards carries on an unbeaten streak that stretches back to 2015, as he picked up a 13th consecutive win.
Covington, on the other hand, lost his third title bout and will wonder if the chance for him to fight for a belt will ever come around again.
Pimblett admitted the Ferguson fight was a "lose-lose situation" coming into the bout, as Ferguson's decline has been apparent for a while, and felt that there was no way he could afford a shock defeat.
It never really looked on the cards though as the popular 28-year-old, who had his young family ringside for the first time, claimed a dominant victory.
It looked like Pimblett might finish the fight early on as he downed Ferguson early in the opening round and unleashed a barrage of shots on the ground - but the Orange County fighter is known to be tough to finish and so it proved as he managed to somehow survive Pimblett's onslaught.
The Liverpudlian was never in any danger and controlled the fight on the ground in rounds two and three to ensure that an unthinkable loss to a "finished Tony Ferguson" never happened.
He landed repeatedly on Ferguson's chin early on to open the opportunity for the big shot. The only concern for Pimblett perhaps came with his conditioning as he appeared somewhat gassed in the third round.
After the fight, 'The Baddy' paid tribute to Ferguson's toughness.
"An absolute legend," Pimblett said about the 39-year-old "Everyone give a round of applause, let's hear it for Tony Ferguson. It's an honour to share the cage with him.
"A couple of weeks ago, I got my second degree black belt. So we put it to work. When I get on top of you, I'm like a blanket. You can't get me off. I feel better. I'm still a bit disappointed I didn't get the finish over Tony but he's one of the toughest [guys] in the world."
Following the Pimblett fight, unbeaten Shavkat Rakhmonov submitted Stephen Thompson for the first time in his career to put him into the list of contenders to face Edwards next, alongside Belal Muhammad.
In the co-main, Alexandre Pantoja went 2-0 against Brandon Royval to retain the UFC flyweight title.
Sky customers can watch replays of Edwards vs Covington and Pimblett vs Ferguson - now
